Libertarians believe that reducing the size of government increases total welfare. Some believe that welfare would be maximized by eliminating government entirely. Whether shrinking government would be beneficial, however, depends not only on the level of welfare that could be achieved with no government, but on the path of welfare over time as the size of government is reduced.

Volume 1, Article 32 (2009)

Gold is the child of Zeus.
—Pindar, circa 500 BCE

What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.
—Confucius, circa 500 BCE

I heartily accept the motto, “That government is best which governs least.”… Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe—”That government is best which governs not at all”; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1849 CE

1. Introduction: Law and Psychology

      The question of the connection between law and psychology can be answered in the most different of ways. It should be emphasized that the existence of the law presupposes specific psychological conditions and human relationships within which the law arose, and that it is undoubtedly a task of psychology to explain the psychological pre-conditions informing law’s emergence at all.

Volume 1, Article 37 (2009)

Whilst some defenders of the minimal, limited state or government hold that the state is “a necessary evil,” others would consider that this claim that the state is evil concedes too much ground to anarchists. In this article I intend to discuss the views of some who believe that government is a good thing, and their arguments for supporting this position.

Karl Widerquist has recently argued that libertarians face a dilemma.1 The dilemma is that, if Widerquist’s arguments go through, libertarians can either “remain committed to natural property rights and drop their commitment to the moral necessity of a libertarian state or … maintain their commitment to a libertarian state and drop or amend their principles of p

Volume 1, Article 43 (2009)

Introduction

The discussion of what is and what is not inflation has become important among the Austrian economists in their debate regarding free banking with fractional reserves versus banking with 100-percent reserve. That such an old and important discussion has not yet reached a consensus is interesting and suggests that there may be a problem or ambiguity around this concept.

nskinsella Microsoft Word - lp-1-38.doc Acrobat Distiller 8.1.0 (Windows)

Volume 2, Article 44 (2010)

There it was. Bombay. E.M. Forster, affectionately called Morgan by his friends, hurried to the railing of the ship to get a better view. The blue sparkling water stretched out before him until it met land on the horizon where buildings and bustling communities nestled among green trees. Forster had been sailing for two weeks. He was tired and dirty. The heat bothered him. It had forced him to sleep on deck where he could catch the occasional cool breeze.

Volume 3, Article 10 (2011)

1 Introduction

Shortly before the Industrial Revolution the English philosopher John Locke put forward a theory of property that reflected the emerging capitalist system. This theory has often been interpreted as supposing that we, the human race, live on a frontier with the natural world, looking across to plentiful resources in an as yet un-tamed and un-owned wilderness.

Volume 2, Article 5 (2010)

1. Introduction

no Person can disobey Reason, without giving up his Claim to be a rational Creature

—Swift (1726, 261)